January 5, 2004

Age before beauty

Posted by Arcane Gazebo at January 5, 2004 3:53 PM Friday evening I violated my romantic comedy rule (which is, briefly, "only on dates") since the Pinneys wanted to go see Something's Gotta Give. It had some amusing moments, though subtlety was not its strong point. I would say, however, that two hours eight minutes is far too long for a movie of this genre. Worse, they could have ended it earlier and also given it a better ending. As it was, the ending just reinforced the same societal double-standards that it purported to lampoon. (Warning: spoilers ahead.)

Jack Nicholson's character is a guy who's had 40 years of shallow, meaningless relationships with young women. One might think that this would make him unable to form a deep emotional bond with another person, and the movie more or less gets this right; as a result, he ends up breaking the heart of Diane Keaton's character. On the other hand, Keanu Reeves plays a young doctor who ignores the bimbos who throw themselves at him and pursues Keaton because he enjoys her company on an intellectual level. In his relationship with Keaton he never treats her badly. So which one does she choose in the end? The 63-year-old emotional midget. Oh, right, he's changed. 40 years of habit gone in six months. Whatever. Even after his supposed transformation he still doesn't bother to show enough interest in Keaton to see her hit play on Broadway. Basically what this movie is saying is that a guy can date 22-year-olds until he is physically unable due to age, at which point he can settle down with some nice intellectual woman for company in his twilight years. And said woman should go with him rather than the attractive young man who actually cares about her. I can only assume that after this experience Keanu's doctor starts chasing the bimbos, and I don't blame him.
Tags: